Seera Tel
by Endar
Summary: You heard about the incident at Seera Tel, but what happened?
1. Chapter 1

**Seera Tel Incident**

_This story is fan fiction. It is based on information from the Homeworld: Cataclysm Guide Book, so this incident did happen in the game. This is a more detailed version of the guide books story. The names of people in this story were created by me. _

_This is also my first story on this site, so I would appreciate any comments or constructive criticisms._

Manaan Fleet Command

"Admiral, we've picked up a message from our frigate squadrons in the Seera Tel system."

Admiral Cose Manaan turned to face the speaker and responded. "Put it on."

The message began to play. "This is Manaan Assault Frigate 1-8-3 to anyone within range. We have picked up several small unidentifiable crafts heading towards us. Request assistance. Repe….." static filled the void where the message would have repeated.

"We lost the signal, sir." The comm. officer stated, as if no one else figured that out. "'Small crafts'? Sounds like the Turanic Raiders." commented Captain Olsin from his station.

"But there hasn't been any Turanic activity in the Seera Tel system for ten years." Interjected Lt. Naji, the communications officer.

"We can't speculate on what happened." said the Admiral. "We need more data." He turned to Naji. "Has there been any transmission from the system?"

Naji consulted with the other comm. personal. Once he was done he shook his head. "No sir."

"Then we must follow protocol." The Admiral walked over to the Fleet Deployment Display. He leaned over the panel, supporting himself with his hands. "Who's the closest to Seera Tel?"

The lieutenant working at the station checked. "That would be the Naar-Tobin, a Carrier." She answered.

The Admiral turned back to the comm. center. "Lt. Naji, contact the Naar-Tobin. Inform them of the situation and have them jump to the Seera Tel system." ordered Admiral Manaan.

"Aye sir."


	2. Chapter 2

Seera Tell system: An hour later.

The Manaan Carrier Naar-Tobin with a small group of capital ships dropped out of hyperspace within the system. The group consisted of two Matriarch Support Frigates, two Vengance Assault Frigates, three Firelance Ion Frigates, an Avatar Heavy Cruiser, and two Revelation Destroyers. The carrier also had a full complement of Strike craft and Corvettes in the hanger.

"We have arrived at the coordinates." the Helm Officer said.

"All systems are functioning." stated the ensign at the engineering station.

"Link established with Manaan Fleet Command," Said a short comm. officer.

"Beginning scans of the system." Lt. Kan said.

"All ships present. Fleet jump successful," said the comm. officer.

The captain of the fleet, Karen Kol, consulted the inflow of data from the various ship departments, which was standard procedure after a hyperspace jump. Once she had checked everything, she got up and walked to the sensor station.

"Are the sensors picking up anything?" Captain Kol asked.

"Negative, captain. We are not picking up anythin….." began Lt. Kan, but before he could finish, Ensign Michaela interrupted. "Captain, we just detected a small debris field. It is approximately 15 kilometers away." The captain turned to the comm. officer.

"Have the fleet move towards the debris field. "

"Aye."

"Helm, move us to the debris field."

The captain went back to her command chair and hit the intercom button for the hanger.

"Hanger bay?" she asked.

"Reporting," responded the always cheerful voice of the hanger officer, Dengur Tol.

"Send out three flights of scouts to comb the system. Also prep a couple of probes for launch."

"Will do captain."

The captain turned to the helmsman. "How long until we reach the field?"

"About 5 minutes."

A moment later a voice came over the intercom. "Launching scout flights"

"Sensors confirm scout launch" verified Lt. Kan.

Tol's voice crackled over the comm.. "Bridge, this is Hanger. Probes are ready."

The captain hit the comm. button. "Good. Launch one of them and rely control up to here."

"Roger."

"I have control of the probe" Lt. Kan said. "Setting probe course." Kan input the coordinates into the probe through his terminal.

"Probe away" said the sensor officer.

The captain watched the sensor display as the small dots representing the probes sped towards their destination. Within seconds they reached the coordinates.

"Probe has arrived. We are receiving visual data from the probe."

The captain moved towards one of the monitors on the bridge. "Bring it up."

The screen showed a few chunks of metal drifting in space.

The ensign who was working at that monitor began the initial report. "Visual analysis of the debris indicates that it was a frigate size vessel."

"Only one?" the captain asked.

"Yes captain."

The captain was puzzled. "But there were five frigates in that squadron."

She turned to the comm. officer. "Have the scouts reported any other debris fields?"

The officer quickly looked over his display and then turned to face the captain. "Negative, ma'am."

"Captain, data from the probe has allowed us to ID the wreckage as Assault Frigate 1-8-3." The ensign at the sensor station stated.

"Can you determine how she was destroyed?" The captain inquired.

The ensign shook his head. "Not yet, captain. If we could bring some of the debris on broad, it would help us determine that."

"Alright, use the salvage corvettes to get what you need."

"Aye, captain." The ensign answered before he sent the orders to the hanger.


	3. Chapter 3

Ten Minutes Later

"You are cleared for launch."

"Roger, taking off now." The pilot, Kath Saban, responded. The engines of the corvette came to life and the small craft slowly flew out of the hanger. The lights of the hanger were soon replaced by those of the stars.

"Salvage corvette 1-6-2 is away. Setting course for debris field."

"Roger."

The corvette's engineer, Sam Long, was seated to the pilot's left. He was busy looking over the sensor controls as the craft flew towards the field. When they were only one hundred meters away from the field, the controls started to beep. Sam checked the display. "I got something."

"The sensors are picking up ion particles on some of the debris."

"Ion particles?" Saban asked.

The engineer nodded. "There are definitely ion particles in the debris." "But how can that be?" the pilot inquired. "Last transmission said they spotted unidentified corvettes. They wouldn't have ion weapons."

"I can't answer that now," Long began. "Once we do a full scan of the debris, we might be able to explain it." The engineer activated the comm. unit. "This is salvage corvette 1-6-2 to Naar-Tobin. Come in."

"What is it 1-6-2?"

"We picked up what appears to be ion residue on some of the debris."

The voice of the Lieutenant was replaced by that of the captain. "Ion residue? Are you sure?"

"Affirmative, captain. We will need to bring some of the debris on broad for analysis."

"Permission granted."

"Which piece do you want?" Saban asked.

Sam pointed to a chunk with an even surface on one edge.

"Alright."

Saban carefully piloted the corvette towards that piece and when they were in range, Sam activated the tractor beams to grab on.


	4. Chapter 4

Naar-Tobin Bridge

Captain Kol watched the salvage operation on a bridge monitor. The corvette was slowly returning with a chunk of debris in its grasp.

"Captain," the comm. Officer called. "What is it?" she asked. "A scout is reporting something." "Put him on speakers and transmit to all ships."

"All ships receiving captain."

"Carrier, this is scout 0-1-0, I've located what appears to be an escape pod."

"Good work 0-1-0. Transmit the coordinates."

"Roger that."

The coordinates appeared on the comm. Officer's screen.

"Support Frigate Charlie?" asked Captain Kol.

The face of Commander Hondo appeared on the screen. He was a young man who had only recently been made commander. The support frigate was his first command.

"Yes, captain?"

"I want you to recover the escape pod," she began. "The destroyer Narsh-Torii will escort you."

"Understood."

"The Narsh-Torii has received their orders captain." The comm. officer stated.

"Support Frigate Charlie is heading for the pod." Lt. Kan verified. "They should reach it in fifteen minutes."


	5. Chapter 5

Support Frigate Charlie

"Closing in on the pod now, sir." the navigator called over the comm.

"Medical team, are you ready?" Cmdr. Hondo's voice inquired over the comm. 'We are good to go, sir" answered Dr. Lenk. With the doctor were about five other crewmen. Two of them were medics, two were engineers, and one was one of the spare pilots onboard the frigate. They were all by one of the docking port airlocks. Above the airlock, there was the statue light. It currently was red, which meant that the door could not be opened safely.

"Beginning docking procedures" announced a voice over the comm. "Contact with pod in 4, 3, 2, 1". There was a thud as the pod made contact to the airlock. A moment later, the airlock beeped and the light turned green.

"The pod is secure".

"Open the hatch." The doctor instructed.

A crewman moved toward the hatch and began the opening sequence. The hatch opened with a hiss and slide slowly away. Inside the pod was a lone woman, wearing a uniform of the Hiigaran military. Her hair was a mess and her face was covered with scratches and burns on it. There were no large blood stains on her uniform. Her eyes were struggling to adjust to the light. The look on her face was not one of thankfulness for being saved but of fear.

"Stay Away!!!" she cried out in desperate terror as she tried to back up. Her whole body was shaking in fear. In her left hand, she held a sharp piece of metal debris. She pointed it at the rescue team as if it were a knife.

"It's alright. We're here to help you" the doctor said trying to calm her down but she still tried to back away from them. "Don't touch me!!"

"Eileen?" said a voice from behind them. Everyone turned to see the speaker. It was a pilot. "You know her?" Dr. Lenk asked. The pilot nodded. "We trained on the Baal-Zarie together."

"Chase?" the survivor called out in a quiet voice. "Keep it away from me." Her voice was whimpering in fear. "It killed them, Chase. Keep it away!!" The pilot slowly approached her. "It's ok, Eileen. We're here to help you." He reached out his hand and helped her up. Her whole body was still shaking. Their hands met and Chase gently gripped her hand as he helped her up.

She got up slowly with the pilot's help. Her eyes were still filled with fear as they darted back and forth, taking in all of the rescue crew. Whenever one of them got closer, her hand gripped the crude knife harder, as if preparing to slash them.

On her way out of the pod, Eileen lost her footing and tripped. One of the med techs reached out to help her, but Eileen tried to slash the tech with her crude knife. The medic jumped back in time. Eileen began to struggle against Chase. Her expression had changed from one of terror to one of pure rage.

While she was distracted by this, Dr. Lenk sedated her. Eileen went limp as the drug entered her blood stream. She was then rushed to the med bay. Her face still showed signs of fear and even paranoia.


	6. Chapter 6

45 Minutes Later

"How is the survivor?" Captain Kol asked the image of Dr Lenk on the monitor.

"Physically, she's ok. There are some burns and cuts, but nothing life threatening. However, she's suffered an immense physiological trauma. A psi-tech is doing what he can to help her." The doctor answered. Behind him, on the screen, the tech was working with the survivor, who seemed to have calmed down since she was in the escape pod. However, she was restrained on a bed, as a precaution. "She seems to have developed sever paranoia." He continued. "When we tried to get her out of the pod, she became terrified of us."

"Could it have been caused by a crew mutiny?" The captain inquired. "By itself, maybe. But she seems to be afraid of something else. Her behavior suggests she was afraid of being touched. That kind of reaction would suggest torture."

"Thank you doctor" the captain said as the doctor disappeared from the screen. He was replaced by the image of Commander Hondo.

"We have confirmed her ID as Lt. Eileen Hughes" the commander began. "She was assigned to the assault frigate as a bridge officer. I had someone run a check on the records of the other crew members of the frigate and it seems that she had trained and/or served with many of them before she came to her current assignment."

"So she lost a lot of friends. But her behavior doesn't fit that exactly. Was there anything in her profile to suggest this kind of behavior?" The commander shook his head. "We did not find anything odd in her profile, captain. However, we will continue to check." _So we're back to square one_, Captain Kol thought to herself. "Very well commander. Keep me informed." Commander Hondo nodded and then vanished from the screen.

"Captain?" asked a voice from behind her. She turned to see the chief engineer, Raz Quin, standing there. "What is it?" she asked.

"Our analysis of the wreckage indicates that the assault frigate was hit by multiple ion beams." The engineer said. "Particle residue analysis indicates that the beams were identical to standard Hiigaran ion beams."

"So that means they were attacked by other Hiigarans?"

"Not just any other Hiigarans, sir, but by the missing frigates" answered another engineer who just arrived.

"What?!" Captain Kol was completely shocked by the engineer's statement. She composed herself and asked "How do you know that?"

The engineer held up a small data disk. "We went through the escape pod and found a recording of the incident." As he said this, he moved towards the console and inserted the disk.


	7. Chapter 7

Seera Tel System.

_Right after the transmission to Fleet Command._

The klaxon was blaring. Lt. Hughes sat at her station on the bridge. She was monitoring the sensor data and trying to figure out the identity of these crafts. Scans indicated that they were about the size of a corvette class ship. It also picked up life signs, but they were strange. They were faint.

"Anything more on the analysis?" Captain Jok queried. "I still cannot identify the ship's make or origin. Scans show life signs, but they are weak." Lt. Hughes responded. "Still no response to communication" the comm. officer, Lieutenant Jin reported. He had been sending out a request for identification since the crafts had been detected.

"The crafts are coming in fast!" exclaimed the tactical officer, Lieutenant Garth. "Sir," Lt. Hughes began. "One of the crafts is heading directly for us." The captain had a look of concern on his face. "What about the others?" he asked. "Each is locking onto one of the other frigates," Lt. Hughes answered. "That behavior is similar to that of a missile" Garth observed. Hughes almost rolled her eyes at that. _He always has to state the obvious_, she thought. Garth looked towards the captain and asked "Orders, sir?"

"Open fire!" the captain responded. Lt. Garth relayed the command to the turret crews.

The whirr of the ship's turrets hummed through the hull as they adjusted their target lock on one of the crafts, the one coming towards their ship. The hull gave a small lurch as the turrets fired a volley. The shells flew through space as a small glowing blur. They were only visible for a brief moment before they hit the target dead on. The unknown ship stopped its movement towards them and began to spin out of control as it exploded.

"Got him, sir!" the tactical officer shouted. A smile had formed on his face.

"What about the others?" the captain inquired.

Garth looked back at his display. The smile on his face quickly turned into a frown. "The Firelance frigates cannot get a lock. They are moving too fast."

"Get our guns on them" the captain ordered.

"Not enough time for the turrets to lock on" the tactical officer responded.

The bridge crew watched helplessly as the remaining crafts charged toward the ion frigates. The ion frigates tried to position to fire, but the craft's maneuvers were too fast. They kept flying toward the Firelance frigates and rammed right into them. The missiles hit the helpless frigates, but the explosion was less than what everyone expected. The impact caused an eerie explosion of red light. But the explosion did not do much damage.

On Firelance Frigate 2-3-8

The impact rocked the entire ship. The lights flickered slightly, but soon they returned to normal. But before anyone could let out a relieved breath, an alarm went off.

The bio-hazard alarm had gone off. "Report" Captain Qual ordered. "Contamination present in the lower decks, around the missile impact," the engineering officer reported from her station. "They have been sealed off." "Have a team in atmospheric suits prepare to inspect the…" the captain began, but was cut off by the comm. officer. "Captain, there is an emergency transmission from outside the contaminated area."

The screen was changed to show outside one of the airlocks. There were two crewmen there. One of them was looking into the camera, while the other was watching the airlock. "Captain, whatever the hell it is, the seal isn't holding it." Behind him they could see that the emergency airlock was changing. There was a red organic growth quickly developing on it. The other crewman tried to shoot at the stuff, but it would just regenerate and continued to spread at an increasing rate. "I don't think there is anything we can do to stop it sir," the first crewman said. In the background, his comrade had begun to back away from the airlock. "Crewmen, get out of there!" the captain ordered. The crewman nodded and cut the transmission. "Captain," the comm. officer began. "Similar reports are coming in from all sections." The engineering officer looked at her station in shock. "It is confirmed, sir. The hazard is spreading and the containment procedures are having no effect."


	8. Chapter 8

Near the Airlock

"Keep going!" the crewman yelled to his shipmate. Around them, other personnel were joining them in fleeing the bio-hazard. He looked behind and saw that the thing was right behind them. It had formed pillars of bio-mass is several places along the deck. There were also some tendrils that were forming among the masses. Scattered among the masses, were some human forms, but they were not just motionless, they were dissolving away.

_I can't dwell on them_, the crewman thought. _I have to keep moving_. He looked straight ahead and put on another burst of speed. The other survivors were just as afraid for their life as he was. "If we can get to the escape pods, we can get away," he yelled out to the others to try to relieve some of their fear. But that did little to help the situation.

The crew kept running, but the spread overtook them. When it did, he felt immense pain. "AAARRRGGHHHHH!" He looked over at his comrade and saw that he too was caught. He tried to keep going, but he couldn't move. Not only was a tendril holding him there, but he just couldn't get his leg to move. It was like the signal from his brain was not reaching his leg. He was starting to lose feeling in his body and things were getting blurry.

Ahead, he could barely make out that the others were no better off then he was. They had been caught by the thing. It was spreading throughout them. They were all screaming in pain as it covered their bodies. He wasn't sure if he was seeing things clearly, but it seemed that other crewmen were being changed into something else.

The pain was intensifying. The crewman looked at his infected body to see that his body was being changed. Not changed, more like being melted away. This was the source of the pain. It was getting harder to think and see because of the pain and the infection. _What is it doing to me?_ he thought before he went out.

Back on the Bridge

"We're losing contact with the infected sections!" the comm. officer shouted. Just then the control panels on the bridge started malfunction. "What's going on?" the captain demanded. "Something has tapped into the ship's computer," the engineer began. "We are losing control of the systems."

Power continued to fluctuate. As it did, the lights and the stations faded in and out. But that did not much of a difference. Many of the stations had lost control of their systems. _We_ _aren't going to be able to take back the ship at this rate_, the captain thought. He activated the ship broadcast system. "All hands abandon ship!"

The bridge crew began to flee their stations and head for the escape pods. The engineering officer was still at her station, doing a final check. "Bio-hazard growth rate has increased exponentially. It's…." Before she could finish, she let out a terrified scream. Everyone on the bridge looked over at her and saw the cause. The growth was covering her. Not just her, but her station too. She tried to get up, to run away, but that didn't help. Before she could walk one step, she fell down.

Some people headed to help her, while the rest resumed for the pods. The navigator, who was among the former, grabbed a metal cylinder to try to pry off the bio-mass, but it would not budge. Almost as soon as he started trying this, the mass spread quickly over it and reached the man before he could drop it.

"Just get to the pods!" the captain yelled. He didn't want to leave people behind, but they had no idea of how to help them. They almost reached the pods when they saw it. The infection had already gotten there. The pods were now covered in the red bio-mass. And it was spreading fast. But there was nowhere to go.

The tactical officer pulled out his side arm and aimed for one of the larger masses. He fired off several shots at it, but it did little good. The damage that was inflicted by each shot would regenerate back just as quickly as it was wounded. The remaining bridge crew began to back away from all the infections, but it continued to spread. One crewman was so terrified that he took his gun to his head. But before he could pull the trigger, the thing grabbed him with a tendril and spread on him. More tendrils were appearing and going after the crew. In less than a minute, all of the crew were infected.


End file.
